Coupang named one of most innovative firms in world

Coupang, South Korea’s leading delivery service provider, has been named one of the world’s most innovative companies by a US market researcher in recognition of the firm’s e-commerce technology and logistics service. 

According to an announcement by US-based business media brand Fast Company on Tuesday, Coupang was ranked second on its list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2020 for the Asia Pacific region.

Korea’s biggest tech firm Samsung Electronics came in third.

“Coupang, as called as ‘Korea’s Amazon,’ is doing what Amazon hasn’t been able to do,” the US company said.

The chief reason for the award was Coupang’s innovative dawn delivery service that delivers in a few hours, if ordered before midnight, a range of products from fresh food to daily necessities, using eco-friendly packaging materials, it cited.

Coupang has built logistics centers across Korea, whose total area is about the size of combining 193 football stadiums.

The company seeks to deliver products fast with accuracy by utilizing an artificial intelligence-based platform that predicts customers’ orders.

And compared to 2018, Coupang has reduced the volume of packaging materials it uses by over 60 percent, enabling the firm to expand its delivery capacity.

“Coupang’s mission is to make people’s lives 100 times better,” said CEO Kim Bom.

In May, the US company named Kim one of 100 most creative people in business.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)